Lankan athletes looking to improve
 

Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Finland

HELSINKI, Tuesday, Sri Lankan athletes will be looking forward to improve on their performances when they compete at the 10th IAAF World Championships, due to start here this weekend.

In the absence of big names like Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe and Asian Games triple gold medallist Damayanthi Darsha, who failed to qualify, Sri Lanka's trump card will be sprinter Prasanna Amarasekera, who will be competing in men's 400m event.

Amarasekera, who beat compatriot and Asian Championship double gold medallist Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando at the recent first South Asian Games trial, is determined to make his presence felt.

In fact, soldier Amarasekera is the only Sri Lankan athlete to enter the 10th IAAF World Championship under the 'A' grade category.

Incidentally, both the star 400m Sri Lanka runners are being coached by former Asian Games gold medallist Sunil Gunawardena.

This will be the first major international meet for Sri Lanka national champion Manjula Kumara Wijesekera, after the high jumper started his stint in the United States.

Wijesekera has shown some encouraging performances since then and is set to better his personal best height of 2.27m last year. This performance in Colombo enabled him to make an eleventh hour entry to the Olympic Games in Athens last year.

The third member of the Sri Lanka team is long distance runner Anuradha Indrajith Cooray, who also competed at the Athens Olympics last year. Cooray has made a good progress in recent times and had a courageous run at the historic Olympic marathon route in Athens last year. He would be looking forward to better his personal best and be in good shape for the important regional Games ahead.

Meanwhile, Minister Provincial Councils and Local Government, Janaka Bandara Tennekoon, the AASL President, and Secretary Prema Pinnawale would represent Sri Lanka at the IAAF's 45th Congress which starts here today.

It was announced that representatives from 209 of the IAAF's 211 Member Federations have announced that they will participate in the 45th edition of the IAAF Congress, which ends on Thursday, making it the biggest gathering of sporting delegates in history.

The Congress is the highest decision-making body of athletics, and delegates from the IAAF's Member Federations will be asked to consider some 300 Rule Change proposals which are on the table for approval in Helsinki.

Meanwhile, the activities at the Athletes Village is gradually reaching its peak. Mayor of Espoo, Marketta Kokkanen, the President of the City Council of Espoo Eero Akaah-Penttil" and Olympic 100m champion from the United States, Justin Gatlin officially opened the 10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Athletes' Village last afternoon.

The Village consists of 25 residential buildings and the Radisson SAS Village hotel, the athletes' village is situated in the Otaniemi area of Espoo, the centre of Finnish technology, just a 15 minutes drive from the capital's main Olympic stadium. Officials said the village could accommodate up to 2,900 persons

The athletes' village will offer plenty of opportunities for relaxing strolls and jogging on the seashore and is located in the middle of the campus area which is formed by the teaching premises of Helsinki University of Technology and its Student Village, the 750m wide Otaniemi already served as an Athletes' village at the Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games.

The IAAF Athletes' Commission also have an office in the athletes' village where all athletes are welcome to gather information concerning IAAF rules, IAAF competition, IAAF whereabouts system etc...

The council of the world track & field governing body - IAAF, meanwhile, has decided to award the 10th edition of the IAAF World Cup to Athens, following a presentation from representatives of SEGAS, the Greek Athletics Federation. The IAAF World Cup - which is the only competition on the World calendar for track and field teams - will be worked off in the Athens Olympic Stadium in September next year.

It was agreed that Greece would be able to field a 9th team in the competition, pending modification of the existing facility. The teams contesting the World Cup will be: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Oceania, USA, Greece and the two top teams from the 2006 of the European Cup (Super League).